#InternationalWerkself: Diaby provides assist

It was an impressive performance by Moussa Diaby in a Les Bleus shirt: In the 8-0 victory for France against Kazakhstan, the Leverkusen player not only helped ensure qualification for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar but also played a significant role on the pitch: Just one minute after coming off the bench, the 22-year-old appeared to have scored his first goal for the Equipe Tricolore but it was ruled out due to Kylian Mbappe being offside (73'). Shortly after that, he fed the ball through to the same superstar from Paris Saint-Germain for his fourth goal and the final strike in the 8-0 scoreline (87').

The next international for the French side is on Tuesday night, 16 November (kick-off: 20.45 CET) against Bayer 04 teammate Lukas Hradecky and his Finnish compatriots. However, the match is not crucial for the group leaders – Diaby and Co. are certain to finish top.

Hradecky and eagle owls move up

Lukas Hradecky with Finland secured an important 3-1 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday. In spite of being a man down after 37 minutes, the Eagle Owls, with an in-form Leverkusen goalkeeper, produced an impressive performance and moved up to second place in Group D with the win.

Finland need to get a result against France and Diaby on Tuesday to qualify for the World Cup and protect their place in the table against Ukraine. They play Bosnia-Herzegovina at the same time.

Tapsoba and Kossounou go full distance

Edmond Tapsoba was in action with Burkina Faso on Friday. The game against Niger ended in a 1-1 draw. That means Tapsoba and Co. are second in Group A in the Africa World Cup qualifiers. The 22-year-old played the full 90 minutes. On Tuesday, 16 November (kick-off: 17.00 CET), Burkina Faso play the current group leaders Algeria.

Odilon Kossounou featured for the Ivory Coast on Saturday night. The 20-year-old also went the full distance and was able to celebrate a 3-0 win against Mozambique with his teammates. That puts the Ivory Coast top of Group D with 13 out of a possible 15 points from five games. The next match on Tuesday (kick-off: 20.00 CET) is against Cameroon who are currently in second place on 12 points.

Remaining internationals involving Bayer 04 players:

Jonathan Tah (World Cup qualifier)

14.11, 18.00 CET, Armenia vs Germany, Yerevan

Lukas Hradecky (World Cup qualifier)

16.11, 20.45 CET, Finland vs France, Helsinki

Moussa Diaby (World Cup qualifier)

16.11, 20.45 CET, Finland vs France, Helsinki

Jeremie Frimpong (U21 Euro qualifier)

15.11, 14.00 CET, Gibraltar U21 vs Netherlands U21, Gibraltar

Amine Adli (U21 Euro qualifier)

16.11, 18.30 CET, Macedonia U21 vs France U21, Skopje

Exequiel Palacios (World Cup qualifier)

17.11, 00.30 CET, Argentina vs Brazil, San Juan

Piero Hincapie (World Cup qualifiers)

17.11., 01.15 CET, Chile vs Ecuador, Santiago de Chile

Edmond Tapsoba (World Cup qualifier)

16.11, 17.00 CET, Algeria vs Burkina Faso, Blida

Odilon Kossounou (World Cup qualifier)

16.11, 20.00 CET, Cameroon vs Ivory Coast, Yaoundé

Emrehan Gedikli (U19 Euro qualifier)

16.11, 14.00 CET, Greece U19 vs Germany U19, Nafpaktos

Iker Bravo (U19 Euro qualifier)

16.11, 18.00 CET, Belgium U19 vs Spain U19, Bissen

Zidan Sertdemir (U19 friendly)

16.11, 11.00 CET, Portugal U19 vs Denmark U19, Capital do Movel